


Love Is

by BrighteyedJill



Category: Heroes - Fandom
Genre: Dubious Consent, F/M, Rough Sex, Verbal Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-04-06
Updated: 2008-04-06
Packaged: 2017-11-22 16:49:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/612029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrighteyedJill/pseuds/BrighteyedJill
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adam impresses on Elle that love hurts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love Is

**Author's Note:**

> This is for [](http://lovestories.livejournal.com/profile)[**lovestories**](http://lovestories.livejournal.com/), for our (only a little belated) New Year’s exchange. Beta’d as ever by the fabulous [](http://redandglenda.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://redandglenda.livejournal.com/)**redandglenda**

“You’re too young, for starts,” Adam said. As little interest as he had in detailing the reasons for not sleeping with Elle, he had less interest still in another monotonous day alone in his cell. So here he sat, perilously close to her on the bed, navigating a field of conversation rife with landmines.

 

Elle pouted and laced her fingers through Adam’s. “You’ll always be too old for me. It’s not fair.” Her hand was very warm. He wondered if that was from the electricity her body controlled, or if Elle was naturally hot.

 

“Life’s not fair, princess.” He said it neutrally: a fact of life rather than an argument. Arguing with Elle wouldn’t lead to anything good. He’d seen her grow up here, little more than a fellow prisoner. Little girl lost, coming unhinged more every year. His talks with her took a predictable course as she grew up; Elle’s unguided sexuality manifested itself in demands that were more and more insistent. Still, Adam treaded very carefully around her. He had his fantasies, and his hand, and that would have to do. He had no wish to give Elle any more power over him. It was enough that he’d admitted to himself that her company was better than being alone.

 

“No?” Elle curled her lip, baring teeth shiny-sharp like a kitten’s. She let a tendril of electricity escape through her hand.

 

Adam gritted his teeth and flinched, but he didn’t try to get away. He learned long ago that fighting only encouraged her. She seemed disappointed that she didn’t get a bigger reaction. She threw down his hand and strutted to the door, click-clacking in heels that always made Adam think of a child playing dress-up.

 

“Later alligator,” she said. When she left, she turned off the lights so he wouldn’t be able to read. She knew he hated that. It was her way of punishing him.  
********

 

Adam was awakened by Elle leaping onto his bed. “Tell me about the first time you were in love,” she demanded.

 

Adam pulled himself into a sitting position against the wall, working to wrest his wits out of slumber. “Not this again,” he grumbled.

 

“Tell me,” she insisted, leaning in close.

 

“What, has your daddy gone and yelled at you again?” He could be nasty when just woken up, and she should know that. “Poor little princess with no one to love her.”

 

“Shut up!” Her hands glowed with power.

 

Adam held still and smiled until the glow faded. “Just wondering why you’re so obsessed with being in love. Love’s crap, little girl.”

 

“How do you know?” She seemed affronted by his judgment, as if love was a sacred concept he had no right to malign.

 

“I’ve been around,” he said simply. Adam regarded her for another minute until he gauged that it was safe to move. Then he slid gracefully off the bed, padding over to the bookshelf. “Go away, princess. Play with your dolls.”

 

“You’re such a pussy,” Elle said from the bed.

 

“Who’s been teaching the little one naughty words?” Adam didn’t bother to look at her. It would only encourage her.

 

“You are a pussy,” Elle said brusquely. “Every time I ask you about love, you lie.”

 

“How do you know I’m lying?”

 

“I’m not stupid,” Elle snapped. He smiled to hear in her voice some of the tone he used when he spoke to her of the Company leadership. She listened better than he’d thought. “Tell me.”

 

He sat at the desk, leaning in toward the bed to give the impression of earnestness. “Once upon a time, long, long ago, there was a far away land called Japan. And in that land lived a beautiful princess.”

 

“Oh please.” Elle sauntered over and settled herself astride one of Adam’s legs, her knee pressing gently into his crotch. Adam held very still. “Why do you always lie?”

 

“I don’t always lie,” he temporized.

 

Elle held up a finger to his lips, then drew it away slowly. A line of blue shot out of her finger, and Adam couldn’t help the little convulsion that ran through him, pressing his groin painfully into Elle’s knee. He gritted his teeth for a moment to keep from screaming at her, then ground out, “That’s not very nice, princess.”

 

“Neither is lying.” She rocked against him, rubbing her crotch on his leg, and Adam felt his body start to respond. He resisted the urge to push her away: she would only hurt him if he did that now. “Tell me about love, Adam,” she purred into his ear.

 

“You’re seventeen years old,” he said tightly. “You don’t know a thing about it.”

 

“I know what I like,” she said. She ran a hand through his hair, electricity crackling in its wake, and Adam strained against her. This was very dangerous territory. Elle’s breasts were pressing against his chest, and she was grinding desperately against him. He had to make it stop before it went too far.

 

“ _I_ don’t like it,” he hissed.

 

Elle stood up abruptly. Her eyes flashed anger—the terrifying look Adam had seen on her before, usually before a prisoner died. Her hand flashed blue, and before he could protest he was on the floor, screaming in agony as lightning arced between his body and her hand. It kept coming, the smell of sizzling flesh assaulting his nostrils even as he felt himself healing. “Do you like that?” Elle shouted at him.

 

Then, as suddenly as the pain had started, it was gone, and the door to the cell banged open. “Elle! What’s going on?”

 

“Nothing, Daddy.” Elle pulled her skirt down where it was hiked up to her thighs. “We were just talking.” She clip-clopped out of the room.

 

Adam pulled himself up from where he’d fallen, shivering as his flesh healed. Bob looked down at him with an unreadable expression.

 

“Is this where you threaten to castrate me?” Adam asked, managing an ironic smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

 

“No. I’d advise you to cooperate,” Bob said, and left, shutting the door behind him.  
********

 

“Hi Adam.” Today she was wearing a low-cut dress with a flared skirt that bounced above her knees invitingly.

 

“Go away princess.” He turned over on his bunk to face the wall, hoping that she’d get discouraged. No conversation, no matter how stimulating, was worth another charring.

 

No such luck. She took a few clackity steps into the room, closing the door behind her. “Do you know what today is?”

 

Adam took a moment to calculate the date in his head. Dates had started to mean less to him once he realized he would live forever, and they’d ceased to mean anything at all in here, but Adam kept track anyway. Today was Tuesday. He came to a disturbing realization. “It’s your birthday.”

 

“Uh huh!” She clapped delightedly, kicking off her platform heels to kneel by his bed and wrap her arms around him. “Eighteen years old.” Adam didn’t respond and didn’t pull away. He was treading on very thin ice. After last week’s encounter, he’d known it was only a matter of time before Elle tested his limits again.

 

“Aren’t you going to give me a present?” Her hand strayed from where it was wrapped around his chest, down his side. He caught her wrist before it could slide any lower.

 

Not that he didn’t want to. Not that Elle wasn’t appealing, after twenty-odd years of no one touching him. His body was certainly interested, but it was too dangerous. If they crossed the line once, there would be nothing to stop her from doing it again, whenever she wanted. “I’ve said no, princess.”

 

Elle snatched her hands away, and then she was on top of him, trying to pin him down. Apparently her training sessions with Thompson hadn’t been going well, because her movements were clumsy, uncoordinated. Adam pushed her off, onto the floor, and went after her, pinning her wrists to her sides. She struggled for a moment, then giggled as she lay still under him. “Doesn’t sound like no to me,” she said.

 

Disgusted, Adam tried to pull away, but Elle grabbed his shirt with one hand, and the other had flashed with electricity. Adam stilled. With a triumphant smile, Elle rolled them over. She straddled Adam’s hips, her dress sliding all the way up her thighs, and she rocked gently against him. “How long’s it been?”

 

“This is not a good idea,” Adam breathed, trying to stay very still and think cold, un-lovely thoughts. Winter in Tibet, and the pain of being run through with a sword, and failure, and anything but the feeling of Elle’s soft body grinding against him.

 

“When’s the last time you had a woman?” Elle asked.

 

“You’re not a woman,” Adam said, forcing the words out through clenched teeth.

 

Elle frowned. “Oh really?” She leaned over him, her breasts pushing precariously out of her dress, and pressed her lips clumsily against his. Adam kept his mouth shut until one of her hands slid through his hair, crackling with blue sparks. He gasped in pain, and then Elle’s tongue was in his mouth, curious and awkward.

 

This was going too far, all of a sudden, careening out of Adam’s control, and he could absolutely not have that. Adam tried to pull his head back, but Elle grabbed hold of his hair, shocking him again, and now he was starting to get hard. Blood surged through his veins, sparkling with the peculiar tingle that came whenever his powers were needed.

 

Elle might have been inexperienced, but she had to know something, because her hand slid to the front of Adam’s pants, between her body and Adam’s, and she grinned when she felt him stiffening. “It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?” she asked.

 

“Since before you were born,” Adam whispered. He shouldn’t have said that; he shouldn’t have answered her question. It was weakness; it was giving in. Her hand felt good, pressed against him. He’d almost forgotten how good it felt, just to have someone else touch him. He had to stop this. He had to—. Then Elle’s hand was gone, and he bit back a groan at the loss. Was he so easy to undo? “Elle, we can’t…” he panted.

 

She was unzipping her dress, pulling it off over her head, and her breasts were perfect: pale and pert, and Adam’s hands twitched at his sides, wanting to touch them. She’d worn no panties today, and Adam could see the perfectly-manicured triangle of hair where she was straddling him. Then she leaned forward, her chest pressed to his through the thin cotton material of his Company-issue tee-shirt, and she whispered, “Don’t I get a present?”

 

When he said nothing, her eyes grew hard. She wrapped a hand around the back of his neck and kissed him, shocking him again so that he’d open up to her. Adam didn’t resist, but it was a battle to keep himself from responding. She had to feel his hardness pressing into her, but if he let himself kiss her, wrap his arms around her, he would be lost.

 

After a moment, she pulled away from the kiss, and Adam could see the beginnings of anger in the hard-set line of her jaw. “You’re not being very polite.” She sent another shock through her hand on his neck, and this one she let continue until he was writhing under her. When she stopped, he was no less hard, and the dangerous glint in Elle’s eye was sharper than ever. If he let her go on like this, he would end up dead. And she was beautiful.

 

“Princess,” he said, throat raw from trying to draw breath through the pain. “It’s all right. Let me show you.” Elle released her grip on his neck and broke into a smile; Adam thought he recognized relief in her eyes, but he couldn’t be sure.

 

He grabbed her arms and gently pushed her over onto her back. She was shaking, and Adam realized for the first time that she was nervous. Nervous was good. Nervous was something Adam knew how to handle. He tangled a hand in her hair, tipping her head back so he could kiss her. Her kisses had been frantic, unpracticed. He showed her how it was properly done: slowly, and thoroughly, until she was panting.

 

Keeping his body poised above her, Adam ran a hand down her side, over her hip, down the line of her thigh and around, until he encountered the wetness of her slit. He ran two fingers carefully along her opening. She was wet already, and Adam smirked at her. “Been planning this a while, princess?”

 

She opened her mouth for a snarky reply, but Adam chose that moment to nudge his thumb against her clit, so all she said was, “Unh!”

 

“You asked me about love, little girl.” Gently, only gently, he began circling his thumb, a teasing ghost of a touch. Her hips strained up, searching for more contact. “This is always how it starts. Gentle and sweet.”

 

Adam slid his other hand up Elle’s side to squeeze one delicious breast: it was full and firm in his hand, so much better than any of his memories, which were all worn out from replaying them, like old records. He bent his head to tongue playfully at her nipples.

 

“Come on,” she whined.

 

Adam sucked the nipple he was working on into his mouth. He was careful not to use teeth, only worrying the hardening nub with his lips and tongue before letting it slip from his mouth and blowing on it. Elle shuddered.

 

“Feels good?” Adam gave her a little more pressure on her clit until she moaned in response. “It always feels good at first. But love can be… surprising.” With that, he shoved two fingers into her pussy. She gasped, and ground down against his hand, and he couldn’t help the laugh that escaped. “What a whore.”

 

“Shut up,” she snapped, but the sting of it was lost in her legs tightening on his arm, squeezing as if to pull his fingers in deeper.

 

Adam began to move, sliding his fingers slowly in and out of her, just a little: short, smooth strokes. Each time his fingers slid home he’d press her clit with his thumb, drawing out a breathy little moan. “Yes, it feels good for a while. You may think nothing’s ever felt so good. You may think you’ll die if it stops.”

 

Adam pulled his hand out of Elle, and her hips strained toward him as he went. “Just come on,” she moaned.

 

“It’s not all fun and games, princess.” He slid two more fingers into her. It was easy, the way made slick with her juices. “Because after a while, someone’s bound to get hurt.” He folded his thumb into his palm and pressed in further, bearing down with his whole arm.

 

Elle hissed in pain and pushed Adam away, hands blazing with blue sparks that set him on his ass. She sat up, fairly snarling at him, but he only smirked. Hurt was a good look on her. It was worth a little singeing; he didn’t mind it, particularly. In truth, his body fair rang with the aftershock of it, flesh and nerves healing in the wake of the shock.

 

Adam stood gracefully, keeping his eyes locked with Elle where she sat naked, trembling and unsure, holding a ball of electricity in her hand as if that could solve her problems. “You asked, princess,” he said coyly. He stripped off his shirt and cast it aside. “Love will hurt you, but you can’t just stop. It won’t let you.” Now he stripped off his pants, his shorts, freeing the hardness that hadn’t abated with Elle’s rough treatment.

 

She watched, captivated, as he slid his hand over his cock. “You still think it’s worth all this?” Adam asked.

 

A spark of defiance surfaced through Elle’s uncertainty. “Quit being such a pussy, Adam,” she snapped, dropping her hand to her side and dismissing her power.

 

“All right then.” Adam came to stand over her, drinking in the sight of Elle’s anxiety and eagerness inexpertly masked behind contempt. “Turn over.”

 

“Do what?”

 

Oh, her eyes were gorgeous like that, unguarded in their confusion. Yes, if he was going to teach Elle Bishop about the ways of the world, it wouldn’t be through a leisurely, face-to-face fuck, it would be a fast, dirty screw, taking her on her knees like a whore. “Turn over,” he repeated, and she did. “On your knees.” He knelt behind her, pulling her hips up to where he wanted them, and she allowed it.

 

Adam splayed a hand over her back. Elle’s skin was perfect: pale and smooth, her upturned ass tight and inviting. He slid a hand over to grip her hip, and bit back a chuckle. “Everyone does stupid things for love, princess. Everyone’s desperate for it. Everyone’s weak.” She craned her neck to glare back at him over her shoulder, but he ignored her. It wasn’t her he was talking to, anyway.

 

Adam guided his cock into her, pushing into her wetness with a sigh of pleasure. She gasped, and he thrust hard to bury himself deeper. “Adam—.” He thrust again, to shut her up. Curses or confessions of love, he didn’t want to hear either. He pulled out a bit and shoved in again, pulling her hips back into him, setting a punishing pace.

 

It was more frantic than pleasurable, even for Adam, but he didn’t want to like it. He didn’t want to need the way she squeezed and flexed around him—the silky heat he’d missed for so long. He didn’t want to hear Elle’s high-pitched gasps that made his dick twitch. He didn’t want to be so close to the edge so soon. He was supposed to be in control. This was supposed to be some sort of lesson, though in the last few seconds Adam had somehow forgotten what the lesson was, and to whom it was being taught.

 

Elle’s breathing was fast and shallow, and she was bucking her hips back against him now, her desperate little noises getting louder. Adam hated her, then, for how much she could enjoy this, enjoy _him_ , but he couldn’t stop himself. It felt good to him, too. He was right: love made everyone weak. Even him.

 

Elle shifted to balance herself on one arm, her other hand searching between her legs, frantically rubbing her clit. In a few seconds, Adam felt her still beneath him, saw the flash of electricity as she lost control, scorching the concrete floor, shocking Adam where they were joined. His orgasm ripped through him, short and painful, and over before he’d recovered from Elle’s jolt.

 

Elle collapsed onto the floor, but Adam managed to hold himself up, though barely. Now, in the immediate aftermath, he was furious with himself. There were a thousand ways he should have known better than to have done any of that. There were a thousand ways he should have made it better. He stood and snatched up his clothes, pulling them on angrily.

 

Elle lay stretched on the floor another few moments, reveling in the afterglow. Adam very much wanted to stomp on her throat. Instead, he perched on his bunk and schooled his face into a mask of bored indifference. Elle finally looked at him, smiling languidly. She’d always had so much pride in her sensuality, using it as a tool, as a weapon. Adam knew it well.

 

“You know,” Adam drawled. “I thought a girl who controlled electricity would be a little more exciting.”

 

“What?” Elle’s face slid from satisfaction to hurt, and Adam’s smirk grew.

 

“I’m a prisoner, so I have to take what I can get, but no one with a choice is going to be very impressed.” He scooted back on his bunk to lean casually against the wall. “With the way you strut about, a man starts to expect a certain amount of…” He drew in his breath, as if searching for the right word. “…Competence. Just friendly advice.” He drank in Elle’s hurt like water. “If it’s a choice between you and my hand.” He shook his head ruefully. “I think I’m done with you, princess.”

 

Elle’s eyes were deep pools of pain for only a moment more before they hardened into anger. “Is that so?” she whispered. She raised her hand, and then everything turned to agony.

 

The bed was on fire—Adam knew that from the smell of smoke mixing with the smell of cooking meat. “You don’t know anything!” Elle screamed at him, her high-pitched rage mixing with the sizzle of electricity and the sound of his own pained screaming. “I hate you! I hate you!”

 

The fire alarm went off, blaring resounding off the concrete walls, and the sprinkler system activated, drenching Adam, the bed, the whole room. “I hate you!” He could still make out Elle’s shouting, through the roaring pain, through the siren, through the water.

 

“Elle!” That was Bob’s voice, a commanding bark in his usually bland tone, loud enough to cut through the alarm. “Elle, stop it! Stop, damn it!”

 

The worst of the pain stopped, then. Although it was several minutes before Adam was whole again, he heard Bob’s disapproving “Oh, Elle,” and wondered what he thought of his naked, angry daughter standing drenched under the sprinklers.

 

By the time Adam could sit up, Elle had squirmed back into her soaking wet dress. The alarm and the water had stopped, and now Bob was regarding Elle with resigned disappointment. “Go to your room,” he told her. “We’ll talk later.”

 

Her platform heels slapped wetly against the concrete, and she turned back at the door to stare angrily at Adam. “See you later, Princess,” he said. She flipped her wet hair over her shoulder and left. “Your daughter’s a real bitch,” Adam commented.

 

Bob regarded him, unperturbed, from over the top of his glasses. “I did warn you,” he said. “And I won’t come in here to stop her a third time.”

 

“Won’t be necessary.” Adam found the strength for a wry smile. “I think she believes me now. About what love is.”

 

Bob’s expression was as unreadable as ever, but when he left, he turned off the light.


End file.
